USCIRF Calls On Administration To Raise Religious Persecution Concerns With Chinese Officials

As reported by Reuters, this week top U.S. and Chinese officials will meet in Washington for the annual U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue.  The annual event began five years ago as a way for the two countries to manage their complex relationship.  Yesterday the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom issued a press release calling on U.S. officials to raise with the Chinese the cases of prominent religious prisoners and human rights lawyers in China. USCIRF said in part:

The continued confinement of thousands of political and religious prisoners in China violates that nation’s international obligations and its constitutional protections for human rights and religious freedom.

The USCIRF release highlights the cases of nine individuals-- Christian, Buddhist, Muslim and Falun Gong-- that it also featured in its 2013 Annual Report.